How to Choose the Best Shipping Company for Your Operations

Choosing the best company to handle your shipping is vital to your entire operations. The entire supply chain falls apart without reliable and quality shipping in place. However, finding the shipping company can be a challenge. For one, there is no “best,” what works for another company may not work for you. Second, there are countless options out there. And, third, how can you know who to trust?

Know Your Freight

The first step in this process is knowing your own freight. You cannot expect to get good service if you do not know everything about the freight that is being shipped.

Any special instructions or needs

Last, but not least, is and special requests or needs that your freight has. This could be limits on temperature, need for tarps and straps, all the way to the need for white glove services. Make sure you know enough about your own freight before handing it off to a company.

Choosing the Best Shipping Company

Alright, so you have all the details down of your own freight. With this information, you know EXACTLY what it is you need from a shipping provider. Now, the next step is finding a company that will work for you.

Asset v Non-Asset

The first thing you should decide on is if you want to go with an asset or non-asset-based shipping company. The put it simply, an asset company owns the trucks that will be doing the shipping, whereas non-asset companies partner with carriers to do the shipping.

There are pros and cons to each type, some of which can be read about more here.

Industry Experience

The next big qualifier is finding a choosing a shipping company that has experience in your industry. Just because a company is the best at shipping flowers doesn’t mean they’ll know how to ship flour. When you are looking into companies you should ask about other clients they have in your industry. Also, ask a couple of questions to make sure they know what they are talking about.

Services and Tech

Another element that may be important to you is the additional services and technology that the shipping company has. Are you looking for live tracking and tracing? And EDI connection? Constance contact with the account manager?

The importance of these additional services and technology is really up to you, they are usually great to have and provide a better service but may come at an increased price.

Price

Last is price. What is your price range for shipping? If you have a consistent need for shipments then it is definitely worth going with a contract but those can still vary as well. The best way to find the best price is to simply get as many quotes as you can. Well, as many as you can within reason, you probably won’t need to request and compare 150 companies.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, in order to choose the best shipping company, you need to first know your freight. Then, you need to go out and find a company that can provide the things important to you. Establishing a long-lasting partnership with a shipping company can be greatly beneficial. You’ll save money and have trust that your freight is being handled with care. However, you need to make sure that you are picking the right company.

Becker Logistics is a non-asset 3PL company that has experience in pretty much every industry. We have been in business since 1997 and in that time we have developed the processes to ensure the success of all of our partners. It is our goal to make shipping simple while still providing a quality service. If you want to find out more about Becker Logistics, feel free to reach out and contact us. Additionally, if you want to get started to then request a quote.